Laura & Mark, June 2011

As Laura married Mark on Thursday 2nd June, the sun shine provided a perfect backdrop for the glamorous crowd at Kilbride Church, Meath.

Laura had seen a bouquet from a previous wedding on my site, which I recreated with a few tweaks by the addition of pearls and a much larger size. The neat compact bouquet which was packed with Akito roses, Cezanne roses and Cymbidium Orchids complimented the brides fitted gown perfectly.

The bridesmaids wore royal blue gowns and carried white rose bouquets trimmed with bright greenery. The flower girl carried a smaller version.

Laura gave me the material from the alterations of the bridesmaids dresses. This always comes in handy for binding the stems of the bouquet so they match perfectly. I also used some on the stems of the mens buttonholes. Here they are outside church between the bay trees.

Lanterns line the way into church as bride and father take a look back….

Laura had the most beautiful glass candle holder for her unity candle which I just had to use in the arrangement.

The wedding party looking super stylish. Aren’t bridesmaids lucky these days that brides choose such wonderful dresses for them to wear. Not a meringue in sight!

Congratulations to you both x

Bits & Pieces

A few randoms here just to show I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth!  I often get asked to do arrangements as gifts for people.   I sometimes provide the flowers, sometimes people bring flowers to me and I’ll try and do something for them.  This was a bunch of Tesco yellow roses.  The pot has been painted in blackboard paint so you can write a message to the recipient….

I was recently asked to decorate a house for a birthday rather than a function room.  I really enjoyed the change.  I could go all out on large arrangements as they were restricted in number whereas with weddings the arrangements are often limited due to the fact you need so many..

A candle arrangement for the fireplace.

A tall martini glass was filled with red flowers to match the glass and surrounded with tealights and strawberries for the month we’re in!

Another large arrangement for the corner of the room.

A smaller arrangement to go near the bar picked up the theme by filling the vase with limes and using them in the arrangement.

Drapes were created for the ceiling and used to envelope fairy lights…

Lastly – just wanted to share my haul! Have a few vintage style weddings coming up this summer and my very generous Dad let me raid his huge room of antiques and nick-nacks. Loving these vintage bottles to use for single stems of flowers…

Few more things to come this weekend x

Here Comes the Sun, Little Darling!

The Beatles were right – it came and more importantly stayed! All my lovely April brides were blessed with the weather – it seemed to shine all month. I hope it made the days even more special for them and their guests. For me, it meant a chance to work outside. Heaven…

Saturday 30th April saw Laura marry Patrick. I met with the couple way back last year but it has flown around in no time. Laura looked absolutely stunning in an amazing dress. There were a few nerves from Patrick which I’m sure will have been blown away by the sight of Laura walking in to church. They married at Church of the Most Precious Blood, their local church in Cabra. It has a really grand entrance which I dressed with bay trees and flowers on the railings.

The pew ends in church contained one hydrangea head with an ivy trail set against an ivory organza ribbon.

The pedestal arrangement waiting to go in.

And thank you bouquets left at the entrance for the ushers to collect

I hope to update you with some shots of the wedding party soon after a chat with the photographer x

Royal Wedding

Well I ended up totally hooked! From being anything but a royalist I have found myself devouring 24 page pull-out specials! I'm english so remember being dragged into the school hall to watch Andrew & Fergie - I remember being rather bored and annoyed at missing Matball!

So, this was quite a turn up for the books - think it's because they seem so grounded and actually in love! After spending Easter in my hometown amongst the bunting and the media hype, I realised I would end up quite homesick if I came back to Ireland and sat watching it on my own - so, I invited a few friends for our own royal wedding breakfast. Obviously being in the wedding business meant I got a bit carried away! Chair covers, bunting and favours! I wrote out place cards with our royal titles. To find yours - take the title Lady and use one of your grandparents names. For your very own double barrel surname use the name of your first pet and the name of the street you grew up on. Guests included Lady Esther Trigger-Berryfield and Lord Edmond Fraser-Bramley.

As you can see in the pics I went totally over the top but it was a good laugh and a great excuse to have a glass of champers before 12 midday!

Seeing how this is meant to be a flower blog I'll finish the post with a little bit about Kates bouquet!

Yours,

Lady Elizabeth Lulu-Munsbrough!

x

Kates bouquet was a relatively small bouquet of seasonal British flowers. Although it looks relatively simple, it is in fact a wired bouquet. Each of the small delicate flowers has to be individually wired before shaping into a bouquet. It contained lily of the valley, sweet william, hyacinth, ivy and the traditional sprig of myrtle. This has to be taken from that which was planted after the wedding of Queen Victoria in 1945! The meanings of the flowers was very important to Kate....

Lily of the valley - return of happiness
Hyacinth - Constancy of love

Sweet William -Gallantry

Ivy - Fidelity, marriage, wedded love, friendship affection

Myrtle - The emblem of marriage, love

Just one point of note though is made by celebrity florist Nick Priestly below:

"Despite the fact that the bouquet is the one part of the wedding that can be replicated by us commoners, it will come at a price. Lily of the Valley is already one of the most expensive wedding flowers costing around £5 per small stem. A replica of Kates' bouquet would cost from around £450 - at least five times more than the average bridal bouquet"

My hot tip is that the meaning of flowers will make a big come back in bridal bouquets. I often get requests from brides to use things that have a certain siginificance. This weekends bride asked for pink hydrangeas as the pew ends in church in a reference to the garden of her late grandmother which had a huge pink hydrangea bush in the front garden.

Maybe now, brides will revert back to the age old language of flowers in their bouquets. You can see some of the most common at:

http://www.meaningofflowers.co.uk/

I hope I'm right - otherwise I'll be lugging living trees into the aisles of churches from now on!
x

Busy, Busy April!

The postings have been a bit thin on the ground lately but am happy to say that’s because I’ve been busy with bookings - hurrah.  Today, marks the end of the month and I feel positively Knackered!!!!  Hubby took himself off with the lads for the weekend so a whole Saturday evening stretches ahead of me now.  Thought I would use it to show some of the things I’ve been up to this month.  A typical weekend….

My trusty Land Rover – packed to the rafters! You wouldn’t believe this small space can produce everything that you’ll see below!

These lovely bouquets contained ‘Cool Water’ lilac roses.  Chosen to compliment silver bridesmaids dresses they were so simple and pretty.

The bridal party flowers packed and ready to go. The bride went for plain roses, the flower girls carried smaller versions of the bridesmaids and the mothers corsages were colour matched to their outfits…..

The buttonholes look so striking like this – all lined up ready to go…

The ‘Cool Water’ roses were used for the buttonholes too.  I always like to use wired ivy leaves and pin in the guard leaves to stop the rose blowing open. 

I loved this arrangement designed as the Unity Candle Arrangement for the altar.  Here it is before church. This shows how it would look if you decide to take yours for your top table at your hotel.  A little tip here – make sure you know exactly what your getting at your hotel if flowers are important to you.  Lots and lots of brides tell me they are sorted for their reception, so if that’s the same for you – check what you get for your money.  I was booked to do chair covers for a reception the other night.  Just as I was finished and really pleased with the result – the staff brought in the worst arrangement  I have ever seen – honestly – my 6 year old could have done better and I am certainly not one of those florists who slag all others within a 100km radius!  I honestly couldn’t leave it – the groom to be was there and he agreed- yes a man noticed how bad it was!  Luckily he and the others working on the room had spare flowers so I quickly knocked up a new arrangement.  Yes  it was THAT bad – that I arranged something else for free.  I couldn’t let all the brides photos be ruined by it! PHEW – that’s that rant over with.  so back to the photo below. These flowers were part of the brides €150 church package so seeing as they were already bought and paid for, why not get your moneys worth! Tell one of the ushers it’s their job to transport this to the venue.  Let them earn their stripes!  You did probably save them the cost of a new suit after all.

Once at church I set up the bay trees and lanterns outside the main door – yes they were somewhere in that first photo above!

I had some greenery left over so I dressed these pillars at the entrance

With this wedding over – I headed for The Curragh Golf Club to dress the chairs for a birthday party – if you ever needed any encouragement to go for chair covers here’s a classic before and after shot!

BEFORE

AFTER – TA DAH!!!

Technorati Tags: CHAIR COVERS GOLD SASH organza sash The Curragh Golf Club lilac,cool water roses,bay trees,lanterns,chair cover hire,buttonholes,lilac buttonhole,unity candle arrangement,altar arrangement

Rustic Spring Wedding at Airfield House

Phillipa was a guest at the wedding of Collette & Eoin below. She contacted me last month to come up with something relaxed and rustic with a wild flower look to it. Perfect for the relaxed ceremony at Airfield House & Gardens.

She had gone for a colour scheme of blue and purple, burgundy and everything in between. I used seasonal flowers such as Monkshood and Allium along with chrysanths, lisianthus and alstromeria.

The brides daughter was looking forward to scattering the real flower petal confetti!

To continue with the country style I created natural looking table centres for the reception. I wrapped banana leaf around the foam to give a bark effect.

They almost looked like little gardens with the flowers emerging from the moss.

Technorati Tags: wedding flowers,civil ceremony flowers,Airfield House & Gardens,country wedding flowers,rustic flowers,petal confetti,flower girl basket

Take one door…

A gorgeous spring morning meant I was looking forward to being outside today.  I had been asked by a bride to create a door arch for her wedding.  A family member was taking care of the flowers inside but a church arch does need experience. I feel I’ve perfected my technique now.  Hope you’ll agree….

The brides father had made a temporary structure for me which meant I could staple gun away to my hearts content without worrying about damage.

Individual sections with the foliage already added the night before were put into place first. 

Once this was firmly in place I started adding in the flowers. A lovely spring mix bursting with creams, yellows and greens with flowers such as roses, solidago, lisianthus and  hypericum berries.

An hour later and a sweep up and the door is ready – what a difference.  How nice will the couple shots look under this?

Technorati Tags: church,flowers,church arch,arch,yellow,spring flowers,wedding arch,wedding flowers,church door,floral arch,fresh flower arch